1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to fish cleaning stations and in particular to a fish cleaning station having storage containers, foldable work trays, and a water supply. The fish cleaning station is designed to be removably mounted to a trailer.
2. State of the Art
There are a number of commercially available portable fish cleaning stations. Some permanently or temporarily attach to trucks, trailers, or to the side of the boat hull. Unfortunately, there are a number of drawbacks to the known devices.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,561,043 discloses a boat-mounted fish cleaning station that includes a rigid trough held over the outside surface of the hull by a horizontal flange that extends over the outer edge of the gunwale. Two flexible cords are attached to the flange that extends over the gunwale to temporarily hold the trough over the outside surface of the hull. Hooks are attached to the end of the cords that engage the lower inside edge of the hull. Because these types of devices are mounted directly to the boat they can scratch or damage the sides of the hull. Second, because the troughs are relatively deep and narrow, they may block or impede the ability to cut through the first with a knife.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,860,367 discloses a portable cleaning table, which is supported by foldable legs. U.S. Pat. No. 5,542,359 discloses a collapsible fish-cleaning table, which has a tabletop member with an upwardly facing work surface, which is supported by collapsible legs attached to the boom of the tabletop member. These types of “stationary” fish cleaning stations cannot easily be transported to and from the fishing site.
U.S. Pat. No. 7,066,096 discloses a game washing and butchering station attached to a trailer. This trailer-mount device lacks storage requiring the fishermen to maintain a separate storage container for supplies that are involved in fish cleaning.
What is needed is an all-in-one portable fish cleaning station having adequate storage and fish cleaning capabilities that can be removably mounted to a variety of trailers. The present invention remedies the above problems and serves a long felt market need.